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Is It a Good Time to Sell My Home?

Is this a good time to sell? We get this question often. This is a natural question, since everybody wants to time the market in their favor.

First, some observations from what we've seen on Faira. Our sell through rate has been higher in 2018 than last year. We have been getting multiple offers on many of our homes. Our homes are selling well.

You might have heard that the market is cooling. That is indeed true. But its also true that the prices this year are higher than at this same time last year. Whether you will face a cold market or a hot market depends upon your sales strategy. At any time of year and in any town a home can sit on the market with no offers. Why? Because the asking price was too high. Faira helps you with your sales strategy we have seen our homes get multiple offers even in the coldest of markets. We sell homes not only in the city, but in suburban and rural communities as well.

So what makes the market of your home hot or cold? It is your asking price. We have seen a hot condo and a cold condo, at the same time in the same building on the same floor, because the asking price of one condo was higher than the other. The one who set the asking price lower, got the interest of all the buyers, got multiple offers, sold not only quicker but also at a higher price than the other condo.

We believe that nobody can time the market. That is not in your hands, unless you have the ability to predict the future. What is in your hands is the asking price. So yes, this is a good time to sell, like any other time. There may be fewer buyers, but then for the same reason there are fewer sellers who you will be competing against. In Spring there may be more buyers, but remember that there will be more sellers too whom you will be competing against.

So rather than asking to time the market, a better question is how will you sell your home? Timing the market may not be in your control, but following the best practices to sell your home for the most money is definitely in your hands. So how can you get the most money for your home? The answer is use science. Setting the asking price below the market price sells your home not only faster, but also at a higher price. Faira incorporates all the best practices of selling homes. It is almost zero friction for the buyers to compete for your home on Faira. The buyers can save 3% on buyer's agent commission and use that savings to compete even harder for your home, so you get the highest price, on top of commission savings.

Whenever we talk about pricing, we do want to mention that many sellers have a natural bias for their home. Some sellers ask for a price above market. Buyers sense that, and they start thinking what is the lowest they can get the home for. Their natural strategy is to wait for a price reduction. At the end of the day markets can teach all sides. When you have only one home to sell, open market is an expensive teacher to learn from. Instead, if you set the price at slightly below the market, many buyers want to buy your home and they sense each other's interest in your home. Their thought process is what is the maximum they can afford so that they can get your home. The change in the buyer's thought process is what sells your home quickly and at a higher price. That is what makes your home a hot home!

So whether the market is hot or cold, that depends upon your sales strategy. Our recommendation is to choose a hot-market sales strategy. Whether this is a good time or not? This is as good a time to sell as any other time.

Kamal is the CEO and Co-Founder of Faira.com. A technologist and economist, Kamal specializes in designing business models for the internet, which he did for both Microsoft and eBay. Kamal now wants to align the interests of home buyers and home sellers with Faira.